Armor-piercing projectile.



W. H. KEEN. ARMOR PIBRUING PROJEGTILE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, 1914.

1 1Q2 758 Patented July 7, 191$ the armor pierclng UNITED sTAtrns PATENTOFFICE.

WILLIAM HERBERT KEEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF GOLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TOWASHINGTON STEEL 8r, ORDNANCE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

ARMOR-PIERCING PROJECTILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July '7, 1914.

Application filed March 16, 1914. Serial N 0. 824,997.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HERBERT KEEN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Washington, in the District of C0- lumbia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Armor-PiercingProjcctiles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and to thefigures and letters of reference markedthereon.

The object of the present invention is to provide an armor piercingprojectile which will be more efiicient than those heretofore providedat either normal or oblique imact. p The invention consists in certainnovel details of construction with relation to the cap of theprojectile, all as will be hereinafter described and pointed outparticularly in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 is a sectional elevationof a conventional form of armor piercing projec tile having a capthereon constructed in accordance with the present invention. Figs.

2 and 3 are diagrammatic viewsshowing the action of armor piercingprojectiles on armor with which they come in contact.

Like letters of reference in the several figures indicate the sameparts.

The body A of the projectile is of the usual form and material bestadapting it for penetration and the cap afiixed to its forward end hasthe contour which is considered best for exterior ballistics, it beingunderstood that the superficial contour lines may be secured byproviding thin Wall's forming extensions of theitrue cap which wallswill be destroyed or dissipated animpact without influencing materiallythe ac=- tion of the body of the cap in its efiect'on qualities of thepro-f jectile.

In accordance with the 'present invention the effective portion of thecap which assists the penetration has a broad leading end of annularform, the major mass of metal being forward of the point of theprojectile, whereby the area of the surface of the armor plate embracedwithin the contacting end of the cap will be large and will set up inthe plate vibration along lines of cleavage which correspond to thelines of cleavage in forming an opening through which the body of theprojectile will pass. Furtheremore, the area of contact is immediatelyincreased by the flattening out of the mass of metal in front of thepoint of the body, both when the impact is normal and when oblique, toset up vibration in the armor plate along the lines of cleavage aroundan area of a size to permit the passage of the body of the projectile.The action is assisted by the provision of. an annular cavity in the capin rear of the point of the projectile body into which cavity the metalmay flow back over the og'ive of the body during the initial contact andspreading of the mass of the cap forward of the point.

The effect of setting up vibration in the plate to be penetrated willbehest understood by reference to Figs. 2 and 3. The plate is indicatedat B and the projectile at C, while 0 is a small cap on the point of theprojectile. The contact of the cap with the plate setsiup vibrationalong the shearing or cleavage lines D at 415 to the surface, but theselines inclosetoo small an area for the passage of the body-0f theprojectile, with the result that the body of the projectile must removeor displace a large section of metal around the shearing line in whichvibration has been established; In Fig. 3 on the other hand, a cap E isshown which will inclose a large area during initial contact andvibration will be set up in the plate B along shearing lines e to forman opening of such size as to permit the passage of the body of theshell with thedisplacement of a very small percentage of metal at theentering edge of the aperture.

\Vith the above explanation it is believed the construction andoperation of the present invention will be readily understood from itheillustration in Fig. 1, wherein it will be seen thatgback of thecont-our extension G which'has noappreciable influence on thepenetration,"'theen of the cap is broad and provided withia centralconcavity H in the axial line of the-projectile, giving the end of thecap an annular formation at I, which is of largediameter well forward ofthe point of thebody of the projectile. The major mass of the metal ofthe cap is for- 'ward of thepoint of the body and an annular cavity K isformed in the cap around the body in rear of the said point into whichcavity the metal of the cap will flow over the ogive by pressure, due toimpact and during the spreading of the cap forward of the point.

The skirt L of the cap serves to give the proper contour to the base ofthe cap and' the usual securing means may be introduced between theskirt'a'nd the body of the shell, as shown at M.

The annular cavity K is shown as extend ing forwardly and outwardly fromthe interior wall of the cap which is the preferred construction, but itis'obvious that its particular shape and location is not essential andsave when specified the claims,.it is not desired to restrict theinvention thereto.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. An armor piercing projectile embodying a pointed body, a broad-endedcap on the pointed end of the body having a concavity in its outerportion in line with the axisof the projectile and a massive body ofmetal forward of said point and around said concavity, said cap havingan annular cavity in rear of said massive body of metal, whereby theimpact area of the cap will be increased and impact will cause the capto spread forward of the point of the body and rearwardly'into saidannular cavity.

2. An armor piercing projectile, embodying a pointed body, a broad-endedcap on the pointed end of the body'and having a massive body of metalforward of said point, said cap having an annular cavity in its innerportion around the body of the projectile adjacent the point intowhieh'the metal of the cap will flow under the pressure due to impac 3.An armor piercing projectile embodying a pointed body, a broad-ended capon the pointed end of the body, having a mas-' sive body of metal beyondsaid point, said cap havin an annular cavity in its inner portion ajacent to and extending entirely around the body of the projectile inrear of the point and into which cavity the metal v located forward ofthe point with its leading portion for first contact ofannular-formaround the axis of the projectile, and-an; annular cavity inthe caparound the bodyin rear of the point into which cavity'the ofimpact.

5. An armorpiercing projectile embodying a pointed armor piercing bodyand "a contour cap aflixed to the pointed endof the body with a massivebody of metal forward 60: metal of the cap will flow under the pressurep of thesaid point, there being a rearwardly ex tending concavity in thesaid bodyof metal whereby the leading portion of the cap metal annularcavity in the interior of the base of the cap extending around the bodyof the f projectile in rear of its point.

Witnesses I J. E. \VILLIAMS, H. \V. DAVIS.

is of annular form and there also being an

